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Employees of DaVita HealthCare filled the Colorado Convention Center to assemble more than 1,400 prosthetic hands for the benefit of people in 67 developing countries. Designed to help amputees and landmine survivors, the project also sought to make the Guinness World Records for the most prosthetic hands assembled.

A number of prosthetics providers have offered to supply artificial limbs free or at a discount to amputees from the Boston Marathon bombings. "We've had a flood of potential donors," said Dr. Ross Zafonte, vice president of medical affairs at Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, where five of the amputees are undergoing rehab. One provider, United Prosthetics, said it would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to donate or discount devices, based on insurance coverage and the fund set up for bombing victims.

Finishing a 10-day course so difficult that his prosthetic leg broke twice, Sgt. 1st Class Greg Robinson became the first amputee to complete Army air assault school. Robinson lost his right leg below the knee in Afghanistan in 2006. "As a leader, I didn't want to tell my soldiers that they needed to go to air assault school if I am not air-assault-qualified," said Robinson. "It's not a disability if you don't let it slow you down."

Transparent, flexible arrays composed of touch-sensitive transistors are able to provide the same level of sensitivity as the human fingertip, according to research at the Georgia Institute of Technology, published in the journal Science. The results could lead to improved prostheses, but additional challenges remain before the technology can be used commercially. "This could make artificial skin smarter and more like the human skin. It would allow the skin to feel activity on the surface," said lead author Zhong Lin Wang.

San Diego is moving ahead with a $200 million redevelopment project, which will see construction of two residential towers at the Hazard Center in Mission Valley. The towers will have about 200 condominiums each, plus a handful of affordable housing units. The project is expected to create about 1,400 construction jobs.